


Missed Calls

by notjustmom



Series: Valentine's Day 2019 [6]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: After New York, F/M, established Tony Stark/Pepper Potts, on the angsty side
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 14:42:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17768717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notjustmom/pseuds/notjustmom
Summary: Day 6: “Your eyelashes will write on my heart the poem that could never come from the pen of a poet.” - Rumidinnergreen





	Missed Calls

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first thing I thought of when I saw this prompt this afternoon, not very Valentine-y, but it's something I thought of when I watched the first Avengers movie for the umpteenth time way too early this morning, how would Pepper react when Tony got home. (RDJ's ridiculously long eyelashes, of course, might have inspired this as well, just a bit.)

She stared at her phone and blinked at the missed calls.

Not once had he tried to get through to her, or twice, but three times he had tried to call her, and hadn't been able to leave a message, because her voice mail had been full, and she hadn't heard it, because she had put it on vibrate to watch the news - the news - on the jet and that was how she had found out what he - how they - damn it. It's too fucking much. Just - she started to clear out every other message that wasn't his voice, just in case she never - she looked up at the ridiculously oversized television in their bedroom which somehow only suffered minimal damage, just a few broken windows, and suddenly, there he was, helmet off, and except for the normal gashes and scrapes on his face, he looked fine, and then he turned towards the camera and she saw his eyes, and he - he wasn't okay. He was smiling in that way he had for the camera, but she knew something had happened to him, not just the whole fighting aliens thing, but something had shaken him, something -

"Hey, Ms. Potts." 

"Mr. Stark." He had taken off the armor, and changed into a clean pair of sweats and a tshirt; he walked carefully into their room, then stopped as she got up from the bed. There was nothing else she could think to say to him, what do you say to -

"Pep." He walked over to her and leaned his head against her shoulder, and her arms slowly came around him, as she let out a sob. "There wasn't any other way. No time to think of anything else -. Couldn't -"

"Shh. Are you hungry? I could make you some dinner if -" her words trailed off as his arms tightened around her and she felt him shake against her. He had faced so many things that had seemed dangerous, or terrifying, but - wormholes, nukes, aliens, Norse Gods - if she thought it was ridiculous after everything else they had been through, she couldn't imagine what he was thinking at the moment. She put her nose into his hair and breathed him in, then shook her head. "Why don't we have a shower, then we'll go to bed?"

He nodded against her then slowly lifted his head and looked into her eyes. "I - tried -" She had never seen his large brown eyes so utterly lost before, so emptied of what made him, him. 

"I know. I'm sorry. I didn't hear it over the noise of the plane, and I was watching the news -" He closed his eyes and she kissed his forehead and then moved onto his eyelids, and the few places on his face which weren't covered in bandages. "I'm so sorry."

"You - yours was the voice I wanted to hear last, Pepper." He pulled away from her and all she could do was nod, and pull him into her arms again, and hold on for dear life.


End file.
